Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Because the Blue Sea Empire remained inactive and allowed the demonic cultivators to push further and overwhelm several smaller kingdoms and empires along the borders of the Frozen wastelands that had managed to hold on so far, the one who ended up being the most affected outside those unfortunate enough to find themselves on the other side of the fallen kingdoms and empires, was the Star Shattering Sect.

Not that the stronger demonic cultivators dared to break the non-interference that subtly existed between the Star Shattering Sect and the demonic cultivators of the Frozen Wastelands, but instead because the weaker demonic cultivators attempting to force their way inside the Star Shattering Sect increased along with the borders shared between the Star Shattering Sect and territory now under the control of demonic cultivators increasing.

However, this was still fine, as the sect’s current strength was more than enough to properly guard its borders.

The main problem was the vast territory of the former Sky Empire that the sect was in the process of slowly integrating into its territory.

Because Iron Sky Kingdom was only one of countless smaller kingdoms that shared its borders with the vast Sky Empire in the past, there were also countless other kingdoms not under the control of the Star Shattering Sect that shared borders with the old Sky Empire.

In the past, this wasn’t a problem, as those smaller kingdoms understood that the Star Shattering Sect had essentially claimed the territory of the old Sky Empire for themselves and was in the process of integrating it by slowly establishing new branch sects every few now and then throughout the territory of the old empire.

But… Now… Most of those understanding smaller kingdoms had fallen to the demonic cultivators of the Frozen Wastelands, causing countless demonic cultivators to flood into the territory of the former Sky Empire.

Although the stronger demonic cultivators understood better than to push into territory that the Star Shattering Sect had essentially declared its own, the weaker demonic cultivators were not the same and just saw an opportunity to rapidly grow their strength in the still chaotic region made up from the former territory of the Sky Empire.

To deal with this sudden turn of events, Elder Song had been forced to put a halt on expansion plans in that region and instead focus on instead sending elders and disciples over to strengthen the sections of the old Sky Empire that had already fallen under the control of the sect. Turning the old territory of the Sky Empire into a massive battlefield, as local forces that had survived the fall of the Sky Empire and a large number of disciples and elders from the Star Shattering Sect began clashing with the weaker demonic cultivators from the Frozen Wastelands.

But this alone was far from enough to affect the overall development of the Star Shattering Sect, as the strength of the demonic cultivators faced was still limited. Instead, the disruption to the Star Shattering Sect came from the sudden interest from the Explorer Union, who had long since grown aware of the Star Shattering Sect’s growing influence through the sheer magnitude of cultivation resources that flowed between the two.

Not specifically the Explorer Union so to speak, but more so a higher-level figure from the Explorer Union, who had decided to personally pay the Star Shattering Sect a visit. The person in question being someone at the Middle Stage of the Celestial Immortal Realm, who had the rank of Senior Explorer inside the Explorer Union. A senior figure that could be considered to hold real power inside the Explorer Union.

As for why someone like this had decided to pay the Star Shattering Sect a visit after noticing just how many cultivation resources flowed between the Star Shattering Sect and the Explorer Union?

Well… Originally, he just wanted to establish a branch of the Explorer Union inside Bright Stone City to make future trade between them easier, but… Having somehow heard rumors about some ancient ruins inside Shattered Star Peaks from somewhere, he now wanted to enter the sect and have a look at those ruins himself.

How this person’s mind worked was a mystery, as he had essentially directly asked Elder Song to enter the Shattered Star Peaks and search through the place for some ruins he had barely apparently just heard about by accident while walking through Bright Stone City.

Even if Elder Song had been bludgeoned in the head several times before meeting with this Senior Explorer from the Explorer Union, he would still have been able to understand that this was just an excuse for the other party to enter the Shattered Star Peaks. The ruins he wanted to see were either made up or something he had learnt about before coming to the Star Shattering Sect. Meaning that his target might be one of the ruins that existed inside the Shattered Star Peaks.

As for what this person from the Explorer Union wanted with those ruins… Elder Song didn’t care, as there was no way he would allow a random Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator to search through the Shattered Star Peaks. No matter how kind he might be, there was no way he would just allow a stranger to essentially enter the core territory of the sect.

Because of this, he outright refused the other party, something that soon enough started what turned into nothing short of a nightmare for Elder Song, as the Senior Explorer from the Explorer Union decided to outright use his authority inside the Explorer Union to block trade with the Star Shattering Sect. Telling him that he would only reopen trade again if he was allowed to explore the ruins inside the Star Shattering Sect.

Ruins that had, so far, only been referred to as ruins inside the Shattered Star Peaks, with no other description that might help Elder Song understand what in the world this person wanted.

Devastating as the loss of trade from the Explorer Union was to the Star Shattering Sect, Elder Song had already prepared for this kind of situation. So, even if the sect would end up lacking some cultivation resources in the future, the current saved up cultivation resources that had been slowly gathered over the past few years were more than enough to keep the sect running without any change for the next five to six years.

However, this still meant that the sect would run into problems in the future if trade couldn’t be resumed with the Explorer Union, as the sect ultimately still couldn’t produce everything needed internally. Especially when it came to some rare cultivation resources and spiritual herbs.

Because of this, the problem that had suddenly emerged in the form of a Senior Explorer from the Explorer Union had to be solved, but… No matter what he did, he couldn’t get the other party to budge, and he kept insisting on entering the Shattered Star Peaks to look for some ruins like an annoying little brat that showed no signs of being a senior at the Celestial Immortal Realm.

The entire situation even made Elder Song think that the person wasn’t someone from the Explorer Union, but instead some spoiled young master who had managed to get his hands on some kind of powerful artifact capable of discussing himself as a Celestial Immortal Realm cultivator.

After all, outside of being nothing like a senior cultivator in his behavior, the way he acted in the face of Elder Song himself was also odd, as there was no sign of the man looking down on him and asking for someone of equal standing in terms of strength meet him.

The entire situation was odd, and Elder Song ultimately couldn’t deal with this oddball from the Explorer Union on his own and ended up requesting the help of Xuan Hao after spending an entire week trying to solve the situation on his own without any progress. Hoping that Xuan Hao would be able to do better than him or at the very least be able to use his superior strength to make the other party back off and allow the sect to continue trade with the Explorer Union.

To Elder Song, the most important thing by far being that trade with the Explorer Union resumed as soon as possible, as the sect’s own way of gathering resources and selling excess pills, artifacts and other cultivation resources was still in an experimental stage in the form of Bright Stone City.

Even if he didn’t want to, the Star Shattering Sect still had to rely on the Explorer Union.

As for Xuan Hao…

”Huh…? Someone from the Explorer Union is causing trouble? Not someone from the Blue Sea Empire or the Frozen Wastelands?”

After learning about the situation, he was in an equally bewildered state as Elder Song had been upon first learning about the situation. Never having expected the first to show up to cause trouble to be someone from the Explorer Union.